News for Faculty and Staff

A summer’s worth of work will culminate in one day of presentations and discussion for undergraduate researchers participating in the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences’ 17th Annual Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium on Friday, July 25.

Dr. Yoosuf Picard

This year marks the event’s highest participation ever with 116 students displaying their posters. The symposium, and the 10-week research program that drives it, brings together undergraduates from Duquesne and other institutions to involve them in high-level research. Students from the University and 12 other schools have been working alongside faculty this summer. Research teams from the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center as well as students from Duquesne’s Project SEED will also be presenting and displaying posters.

“The symposium is an exciting opportunity for student researchers, science faculty and professionals from around the Greater Pittsburgh area to interact and share in undergraduate research,” said Bayer School Dean Dr. Philip Reeder. “It is a chance for the students to work side-by-side with graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty mentors, in state-of-the-art research labs, doing meaningful, real-world research. Very few universities provide this level of involvement to undergraduate students.”

The student researchers are funded by the Bayer School, the School of Pharmacy, individual faculty grants, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health—which is making it possible for biomedical engineering majors to participate.

In addition to the poster sessions, the symposium agenda includes plenary sessions as well as a keynote address from Dr. Yoosuf Picard from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Material Sciences and Engineering. His presentation, Energetic Beams for Micro and Nanoscale Science—My Undergraduate Research to Present, will take a unique direction as Picard focuses more on the impact of undergraduate research

Mission Matters

While Spring Break provides an opportunity for students to vacation or stay home for relaxation, 65 Duquesne students and staff will take this time to embark on Cross-Cultural Mission Experiences (CCME) that will impact six different areas in the country.